By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani opposition politicianswarned against vote rigging on Sunday, the eve of a generalelection that could usher in a parliament intent on forcingU.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf from power.
Fears of militant violence have overshadowed the campaign,and are expected to result in a low turnout.
A suicide bomber killed 47 people in an attack onsupporters of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhuttoon Saturday. The election was postponed after Bhutto was killedin a gun and bomb attack on December 27 as she left a rally inRawalpindi.
Her death heightened concern about the nuclear-armedcountry's future, with al Qaeda intent on destabilising theMuslim nation of 160 million people.
It is not a presidential election but former army chiefMusharraf's unpopularity is expected to be a decisive factor inMonday's vote for a new parliament and provincial assemblies.
The opposition, however, says pre-poll rigging has damagedtheir chances.
"It is more than clear that a massive rigging plan is inplace and has been implemented," former prime minister NawazSharif, who Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, told a newsconference in the eastern city of Lahore.
Sharif and the other main opposition party, Bhutto'sPakistan People's Party (PPP), have vowed to launch protests ifthey are robbed of victory.
"We and the People's Party must win more than a simplemajority. If we are deprived of that it means there has beenmassive rigging and we will both call for protests," Sharifsaid.
PPP senator Latif Khosa told reporters Musharraf's allieshad prepared hundreds of "ghost" polling stations where ballotboxes would be stuffed with votes for the Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML).
Street protests over the result would raise questions abouthow the powerful military might react.
But if the opposition does as well as opinion pollssuggest, a hostile parliament could challenge theconstitutionality of Musharraf's re-election in October foranother five-year term by the last parliament.
That too could herald turmoil.
Musharraf's popularity was hurt when he tried to dismissPakistan's top judge in March, and took a further dive inNovember when he imposed six weeks of emergency rule to stymielegal challenges to his re-election.
SYMPATHY VOTE
Many Pakistanis say they are disillusioned with politics.
"What have these politicians ever done for us? They neverfulfil their pre-election promises," said truck driver SadaqatAli as he sipped tea from a broken cup at a cafe nearIslamabad.
Musharraf, who retired from the army in November, has vowedthe vote will be fair, and says he is ready to work withwhichever party forms a government and chooses a primeminister.
Like Pakistan's Western allies and its neighbours,Musharraf says he wants a stable government which can focus ontackling terrorism and driving economic growth.
Many Pakistanis blame the government for rising prices andshortages of staples.
Another decisive factor in the election, analysts say, willbe the strength of a sympathy vote for Bhutto's party.
But with none of the main parties -- the PPP, thepro-Musharraf PML and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-- are expected to secure a majority, raising the prospect of acoalition between two of the three.
Sharif's party has said it will not enter government aslong as Musharraf is president. The PPP has left its optionsopen.
Islamist parties that have held sway in the northwest,where violence has surged since July when troops stormed aradical mosque in Islamabad, are expect to fare badly in thevote.
Polls open at 8 a.m. (0300 GMT) and close at 5 p.m. (1200).
"I'll go early and cast my vote as I think there'll be lesschance of trouble then," said Saeed-ur-Rehman, 22, a mechanic.
Ballots will be counted in polling stations and results areexpected to start coming out towards midnight on Monday.
The trend in the battleground province of Punjab, wherehalf the members of parliament will be elected, should be clearlate on Tuesday morning, with unofficial results to follow.
Several hundred foreign observers and thousands ofPakistani observers will be monitoring but they have not beenallowed to conduct exit polls. A European Union team is due togive a preliminary assessment within 72 hours.
(To read more about the Pakistan election double click on;and visit the Reuters blog "Pakistan: Now or Never?" athttp://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/)
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider, Jon Hemming andKamran Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by CatherineEvans)